Annie Feidt, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage

Governor Sean Parnell plans to introduce a new oil tax bill for state lawmakers to consider when they gavel into special session Wednesday afternoon. Parnell called a special session early this morning after lawmakers failed to pass an oil tax reform bill. He says he doesn’t know if lawmakers will be able to come to agreement, but the special session is worth a try.

Alaska has the highest rate of tuberculosis in the country – more than double the national average. And many of the cases pop up in rural areas of the state where treating the disease is especially difficult. But health officials hope new tools for identifying and treating TB will help slowly bring down Alaska’s high infection rate.

State Representative Sharon Cissna is running for Don Young’s seat in Congress. She filed her paperwork with the Alaska Public Offices Commission this morning. Cissna is a Democrat who currently represents the University/medical district in Anchorage.

A new report from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation attempts to make the case for expanding Alaska's Dental Health Therapist model to other parts of the country. It looks at how the mid-level dental provider model is working in more than 50 countries around the world. But the American Dental Association has long been opposed to Dental Health Therapists in the United States. And the new report won't reverse that opposition.

The Coast Guard is monitoring a derelict vessel in U.S. waters off Alaska's coast that washed out to sea during the tsunami that struck the coast of Japan a year ago. The vessel is...

A new report from the Government Accountability Office - or GAO - raises questions about Shell's plan to drill exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean this summer. The report, released Friday, finds the Interior...

Divorce can lead to a messy and drawn-out legal battle. But in Anchorage, an innovative court program is helping divorcing couples settle their cases quickly and amicably. It's called the Early Resolution Project and...

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today heard from the Special Counsel who conducted a court ordered investigation into misconduct in the 2008 trial of former Senator Ted Stevens.

Shell passed another regulatory hurdle today in its quest to drill exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean this summer. The federal government approved the company’s spill response plan for the Beaufort Sea. Shell wants to drill several wells in both the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas beginning in July.

The federal government is considering closing three courthouses in Alaska. According to documents obtained by the Associated Press, courthouses in Juneau, Ketchikan and Fairbanks could be shut down as part of an effort to cut costs. If all three did close, the only active federal courthouse in Alaska would be in Anchorage. Senator Lisa Murkowski responded to the news in a statement, saying, “it’s penny-wise, pound-foolish to remove three out of our four active courthouses and ask all Alaskans to travel to Anchorage for legal proceedings.”

A Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts is rallying against the idea to build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to tidewater in Alaska for export to Asia.

The North Slope well that suffered a blow out last month has been plugged. Crews pumped cement into the well Sunday to seal it off. Repsol, the Spanish Company that owns the well, decided it was easier to abandon the well than get it working again. Jim Regg is a petroleum engineer with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. He says cold weather hampered the well control operation.

Later this month, the Supreme Court will consider whether the Affordable Care Act- the President’s new health care law- is constitutional. Alaska has joined with 25 other states to argue that it is not. Attorney’s with the Department of Law want to stop what they think is too much federal government intrusion.

A diseased ringed seal has turned up in Southeast Alaska, far outside the animal’s normal range. Last week, a sluggish seal with hardly any hair was found hauled out along shore near Yakutat.

Kikkan Randall clinched the World Cup Sprint title Wednesday. The Anchorage skier broke a ski during the classic sprint in Drammen, Norway Wednesday morning. But she still managed to place 12th and secure a spot in skiing history.